Harvesting-machine.



' No. 769,344. PATENTED SEPT. 6, 1904.

R. HOLLAND.

HARVESTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED my 14, 1904.

1210 MODEL 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

I iilimllllllltk mu o 4 V I I R I w fi'rrwm PATENTBD SEPT. 6, 1904. 12. HOLLAND. HARVESTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 14, 1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEBT 2.

N0 MODEL.

U ITED STATES Patented September 6, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

RICHARD HOLLAND, OF PIPESTONE COUNTY, MINNESOTA.

HARVESTING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent vN0. 769,344, dated. September 6, 1904.

Application filed May 14, 1904:.

To all whom it may concern:

Be-it known that I, RICHARD HoLLAND,a

citizen of the United States, residing in'the county of Pipestone and State of Minnesota,

have invented a new and useful Harvestingthe means for operating the harvesting mechanism, and more particularly the aprons, elevators, and binding mechanism.

As is well known, the motion of the main driving or bull wheel is variable, and said wheel often comes to a stop, as when turning a corner or, when it drops into a blind furrow. This ordinarily allows the stoppage of the entire mechanism, the motion of which is dependent upon the movement of said wheel, and thus the machine is left with the conveyers and binder full of grain. As a result when the machine is again started its mechanism is of necessity placed in operation un: der disadvantageous conditions, resulting in abnormal strain on the parts and .undue draft on the animals.

To obviate this objection by novel and simple means, which can be readily applied to theusual styles of harvesters, is the principal object of the present invention. One structure by which this object is accomplished is illus trated in the accompanying drawings andis described in the following specification. It will be apparent, however, upon an inspection of the claims hereto appended that the invention is not limited to the details of construction shown and described and that the same may be varied to a considerable extent with- I .out departingfrom the spirit or scope ofthe invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a rear perspective view of a portion of a harvesting-machine, showing the improvements applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is a View in elevation, on an enlarged ciated therewith. Fig. 5 is a detail sectional View showing the form' of joint preferably Serial No,v 207,975. (No model.)

employed between the shoe. members of the I friction-clutch.

: Similar reference-numerals indicate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawings.

A portion of a well-known type of harvester is illustrated in Fig. 1, comprising a platform 6, over which operates an apron 7 and elevator 8, that extends over the main driving or bull wheel 9 and the usual binding mechanism, which includes a packer-shaft, designated generally by the reference numeral 10'. The main or bull wheel 9, as usual in this class of machines, constitutes the driver for the various mechanisms and is connected with a driving-shaft 11 in any suitable manner, said driving-shaft being the pitman-shaft, from which the cutter-bar .is operated. The platform apron and elevators are driven by suitable shafts having sprocket-wheels l2, engaged by an endless chain 13, passing about the same. The packer-shaft may also be operated by a chain, as 14, engaging a sprocket-wheel there- So faras thus described the elements are well known and in themselves constitute no part of the present invention. They may be changed and varied as desired.

Said invention consists in the combination ratchet-wheel 18, secured to the rear end of I the shaft 11 and constituting means for preventing the longitudinal movement of the member-in one direction thereon. The teeth of said ratchet-wheel are engaged by dogs 19, pivoted to the rear end of the member 15 and located in a recess 20, formed in said end, which recess also receives the ratchet-wheel. The dogs are held i'n'engagement with the Wheel. by coiled springs 21, located in there-v cess and having their outer. ends bearing against the walls of the recess, whlle their inner ends bear agamst the dog, asshown n too Fig. 2. The sprocket-chain 14, which engages the wheel of the packer-shaft 10, passes about and engages the sprocket-wheel 17 of the member 15. The sprocket-chain 13, that engages the various sprocket-wheels 12, passes about the sprocket-wheel 16. Thus power is transmitted to the chains 13 and 14 from the driving pitman-shaft 11 through the medium of the member 15 and its clutch connection.

Journaled on a spindle 22, located at one side of and parallel to the shaft 11, is a flywheel 23, having an annular bearing-flange 24 located within the periphery of said wheel and preferably projecting beyond one side of the same. as clearly illustrated in Fig. 4. A sprocket-wheel 25 is also journaled upon the spindle 22 outside the hub of the fly-wheel and has a hub 26, carrying threaded stems 27, which are hollow, as shown in Fig. 4. These stems have sockets or openings, as shown at the left-hand side of Fig. 4, that slidingly receive the spindles 28 of frictionjaws 29, to which are secured shoes 30, arranged to bear against the inner face of the flange 24, said shoes being yieldingly held in such engagement by springs 31, coiled about the spindles 28, their outer ends bearing against the jaws and their inner ends bearing against nuts 32, threaded on the stems. As shown in Fig. 5, the rotary movement of the shoes and jaws upon the spindles 28 as axes is prevented by connections between the shoes, said connections each consisting of a pin 33, carried by one end of one shoe and engaging in a socket 34, located-in the adjacent end of the adjacent shoe. The chain 13 engages the sprocket-wheel 25.

The operation of the structure shown is substantially as follows: Assuming the entire mechanism at a state of rest, it will be apparent that when the machine is started motion will be imparted to the driving-shaft 11, and the sprocket-wheel member 15 will consequently be positively rotated. thereby effecting the movement of the chains 13 and 14 and the mechanism driven thereby with the exception of the fly-wheel. The inertia of this latter member being considerable, it will be apparent that the frictional clutch between the sprocket-wheel 25 and said flywheel will slip and that said fly-wheel will be gradually moved until the speed thereof equals the speed of the chain driving it. Thus undue strain from the inertia of the fly-wheel is prevented in starting the harvester. At the same time the strength of the frictional clutch can be changed as desired by adjusting the nuts 32 and varying the tension of the springs 31. It will also be clear that the power started in the fly-wheel will become effective to prevent the variableness of the driving power. Thus should the speed of pitman-shaft l1 suddenly decrease from any cause the sprocket-wheel member 15 will unclutch therefrom and the chains and mechanism be driven by the flywheel. Consequently in turning a corner or should the machine come to a full stop from any cause the conveying and binding mechanism will continue in operation for a suliicient length of time to permit the machine starting without the.heav v load or strain of starting the entire mechanism, and, furthermore, this flywheel is preferably heavy enough to secure the operation of the conveyers and binding mechanism for a suflicient length of time to clear the aprons and bind the grain that may be thereon when the machine comes to a full stop. If, however, any part of said mechanism should become suddenly stopped from any cause, the friction -clutch between the sprocket-wheel 25 and the fiy-wheel will permit the latter to rotate, and thereby avoid breakage from abnormal strains. Thus it will be seen that the object mentioned in the preliminary portion of the specification is secured by means which is simple, efficient, and novel.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a harvesting-machine, the combination with a driving-shaft, of harvesting mechanism including a conveyer, operative connections between the conveyer and driving-shaft including a clutch connection with said shaft, and a fly-wheel operated by and operating said connections.

2. In a harvesting-machine, the combination with a driving pitman-shaft, of harvesting mechanism, a clutch connection between the pitman-shaft and the harvesting mechanism, and a fiy-wheel driven by said connection.

3. In a harvesting-machine, the combination with a driving pitman-shaft, of harvesting mechanism, a clutch connection between the pitman-shaft and the harvesting mechanism, and a fly-wheel driven by said connection and having a frictional clutch connection therewith.

4. In a harvesting-machine, the combination with a driving-shaft, of harvesting mechanism including a conveyer and bindingmechanism, operative connections between the conveyer, the binding mechanism and the driving-shaft including a clutch connection with said shaft, and a fly-wheel operated by and. operating said connections.

5. In a harvesting-machine, the combination with a shaft, of a member driven thereby and rotatably mounted at the rear end thereof, a clutch connecting the shaft and member, harvesting mechanism and a fly-wheel connected to and driven from said member.

6. In a harvesting-machine, the combination with a driving-shaft, of a member driven thereby and rotatably mounted on the rear end thereof, a clutch connecting the shaft and member, harvesting mechanism, a fly-wheel, and gear connections between the harvesting mechanism, the fly-wheel and the said member. I

7. In a harvesting-machine, the combination with a pitman driving-shaft, of a gearwheel loosely mounted on said pitman-shaft, a clutch connection between the gear-wheel and the pitman-shaft, harvesting mechanism wheels, a fly-wheel, a sprocket-wheel having a clutch connection with the fly-wheel, and a sprocket-chain engaging said several sprocketwheels. 10. In a harvesting-machine, the combination with a pitman driving-shaft, of a member' rotatably rnounte'd on the rear end of the pitrnan shaft and having a plurality of sprocket-wheels, aclutch connection between the driving-shaft and member, a packer-shaft having a sprocket connection with one of the wheels of the member, conveyer-aprons, means for operating the same includ ng sprocket-wheels, a flywheel, a sprocket-wheel having a frictional clutch connection with the fly-wheel, and an endless sprocket-chain engaging the other sprocket-wheel of the member and the sprocket-wheels of the cOnVeyeraprons and fly-wheel.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I my own I have hereto aflixed'my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

RICHARD HOLLAND.

Witnesses:

E. E. PowDERLY, W. P. KILLAILEE. 

